The Veiled Chameleon Humidity Guide

Depending on what kind of enclosure you bought for your veiled chameleon, it can be pretty hard to reach the right humidity. Especially because veiled chameleons need a relatively high temperature when it comes to the hot spot which lowers the humidity quickly. Further they need a lot of fresh air.

Because of that, most people get a screen cage for them, which is absolutely fine. The only bad thing about it is, that such an enclosure makes it hard to maintain the right humidity for your veiled chameleon.

In this article I am going to show you different ways on how to reach the right humidity and some other things you might not know about your veiled chameleon when it comes to humidity.

What Humidity You Really Need To Get

A lot of people think that they have to get a humidity of 60% to 80% or even 90% in their veiled chameleon tank, because this is what pet shops often recommend when they sell veiled chameleons.

First of all, this isn´t even possible if you have a screen cage or sufficient ventilation in your tank. I mean, think about it, if you would try to get and maintain that, you would have mold on the wall in no time.

In fact, an average humidity of 45% is absolutely fine for veiled chameleons. If you mist, the humidity will rise to probably 65% for a short time which is absolutely okay. You don´t have to have high humidity all the time, so don´t worry about it.

The only thing you have to make sure is that your chameleon drinks enough and that it sheds easily. If it has some problems with shedding, which means parts of the old skin do not fall off, you need to get higher humidity.

How To Get The Right Humidity In Your Veiled Chameleon Cage

No matter what kind of tank you have, you will find something for you here. So without further ado, let´s get started.

Get A Rain System!

I know, I know, rain systems can be expensive as hell and that´s why most people do not get them. However in my opinion it is the easiest and most comfortable way of creating the right environment for your veiled chameleon. Why?

The rain system will do everything for you on autopilot. You don´t have to worry about misting and making sure that your veiled chameleon gets something to drink anymore. Simply program the system and it will turn on automatically whenever you want. You can simulate rainy seasons or create dew in the morning for your chameleon to drink. Further such a system is absolutely awesome if you have to leave for a couple of days. Simply fill the water tank and the rain system will do it´s job.

The nozzles (the thingys where the water comes out) can be placed wherever you want in order to make sure that it only rains where you want it to.

I always ended up installing a rain system in my tank. I just didn´t want to worry about humidity all the time. Misting got on my nerves and it will probably get on your nerves as well eventually. So I highly recommend to save some money and get a rain system.

Misting

I said it above, you can also mist your tank with a mister. There isn´t really much to say about this method except that I would get a mister that you can pump and water comes out when pulling a trigger. Don´t get one of those spray bottles where you have to pull the trigger over and over again. Your finger will be thankful. Get a great mister here!

Get The Right Substrate!

Most people do not use a substrate in their veiled chameleon tank. However this makes it very easy to maintain humidity. The substrate will stay moist and the lower section of your veiled chameleon tank will always have higher humidity then, which is awesome as you don´t have to mist that often anymore.

I recommend to get soil without any fertilizers. You can also mix it with a little bit of cypress mulch to make it look better. Cypress mulch is know for staying moist but not get moldy, so it is a great option.

Get Some Moss!

You might be confused now because you know moss from rainforest tanks for frogs and similar animals. However moss is awesome in a veiled chameleon tank as well. If you have a couple of logs in your tank for your veiled chameleon to climb on, you can place the moss on a horizontal spot on the log.

Create A Microclimate With Plants

If you have plants with a lot of leaves in your tank and you mist it, there will be a microclimate between the leaves. Your overall humidity might be low, but between the leaves it will still be higher. This is a great way to offer multiple humidity levels to your veiled chameleon.

You might not know it, but by creating microclimates people in some countries are even able to keep their veiled chameleons without a tank. Some reptile keepers in Germany do that for example. They just get a tree, hang the right bulbs above the tree and mist the tree from time to time. It´s awesome, but you can´t do that in every country because of different humidity and temperature.

So if you get a tree for your tank, just make sure that there are enough leaves where the humidity can be maintained (and that the tree isn´t poisonous to veiled chameleons). However your veiled chameleon should still be able to climb without any problems of getting through.

Conclusion

As you see, getting the right humidity does not have to be hard or expensive. They don´t need very high humidity all the time, all you have to worry about is that the chameleon drinks and sheds well.

About the Author

Hey! I am Pierre. I own bearded dragons and many other reptiles for a very long time. I know from experience that it can be very hard to find the right information about a specific reptile, since there is so much misinformation out there.That´s why I created this website. To help other people to have the best time with their reptiles.